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A MEMORIAL OF THE 
PILGRIMS 



THE PRESENTATION TO THE 
CITY OF BOSTON IN MASSACHUSETTS 
OF AN ANCIENT RAILING FROM THE 
CITY OF BOSTON IN LINCOLNSHIRE 







BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: PRINTED 

AT THE "BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY AND 

ISSUED BY THE TRUSTEES. 1919 



A MEMORIAL OF THE PILGRIMS 




Photograph bv Hackford. Boston. 



Courtesy of the page Co. 



THE OLD COURTROOM. GUILDHALL. BOSTON. ENGLAND. 
HERE THE PILGRIM FATHERS FACED THE JUSTICES BEFORE THE RAILING. 
PART OF WHICH IS NOW IN THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 
THE COURT CEASED TO BE HELD HERE IN 1843. 



l7'/^iry 



A MEMORIAL OF THE 
PILGRIMS 



THE PRESENTATION TO THE 
CITY OF BOSTON IN MASSACHUSETTS 
OF AN ANCIENT RAILING FROM THE 
CITY OF BOSTON IN LINCOLNSHIRE 




BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS : PRINTED 

AT THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY AND 

ISSUED BY THE TRUSTEES. 1919 






Gift 
Library 



UPS; 7.15,19: 2C. 



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CONTENTS. 

A Gift from Boston, England .... 1 

Address of Mr. Ogston 3 

Address of Mayor Peters 5 

Governor Bradford's Letter to Governor 

Winthrop 9 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Old Courtroom, Guildhall, Bos- 
ton, England Frontispiece 

Group at the Dedication .... Facing 8 

Facsimile of Governor Bradford's 

Letter 11 



A GIFT FROM BOSTON, ENGLAND. 

In April, 1918, Mr. George W. Coleman of 
this city was in Boston, England, in behalf of the 
Open Forum movement. During a stroll on 
the river embankment at that place he was shown 
part of an ancient oaken balustrade, once stand- 
ing in the Palace of Justice, or Courtroom, of the 
old Guildhall of this ancient English city, and 
now held by the owner at the suitable disposition 
of the Boston Town Council. Before this rail 
some of the Pilgrim Fathers had appeared as 
prisoners in 1607, but what sentence was im- 
posed by the Lords of the Council at the trial Is 
not, and probably never will be, known. Among 
these prisoners was Elder William Brewster. 

Mr. Coleman, seeing the importance of this 
memorial to newer Boston, especially at the ap- 
proach of the Pilgrim Centenary, expressed a 
wish that this event "could be marked by a 
presentation from the mother to the daughter 



city of such a significant old relic as the balus- 
trade" which he had seen on the banks of the 
river. The idea was welcomed by His Honor 
A. Cooke Yarborough, Mayor of old Boston, but 
no action was taken in the matter until after the 
Armistice was signed in November, 1918. 

In due time the gift arrived, and arrange- 
ments were made to place it in the Delivery 
Room of the Central Library in Copley Square. 
On May 29, 1919, at 2.30 p.m., the formal presen- 
tation was made in behalf of the City of Boston, 
England, by the Acting British Consul, Alfred 
J. Ogston, and His Honor, Mayor Andrew J. 
Peters, accepted the gift in behalf of the City of 
Boston, Massachusetts. At this ceremony the 
Library Board was represented by its President, 
W. F. Kenney, the Rev. Arthur T. Connolly, the 
Rev. Alexander Mann, and by the Librarian, 
Charles F. D. Belden. 

This rail or portion of the old dock, believed 
to be more than three hundred years old, will 
henceforth stand in the Delivery Room before 
the large window facing Huntmgton Avenue. 

The short addresses made by Mr. Ogston 
and Mayor Peters follow. 



ADDRESS OF MR. OGSTON. 

Your Honor, a short time ago It was my 
privilege to present to you, as representative of 
this city, a casket containing an address from 
the Mayor and Corporation of the City of Bos- 
ton in England. It is now a great pleasure to 
me to have the opportunity of requesting your 
acceptance, on behalf of this city, of the gift 
of these rails, sent to its American namesake 
by the old English city. 

A railing. Your Honor, is customarily re- 
garded as a species of barrier between two op- 
posing forces, and in the days of the Pilgrim 
Fathers this railing fulfilled this duty in the old 
Boston Court-house. Now, however, no barrier 
would be sufficiendy strong to keep apart the 
two peoples to which we belong, and on whom 
the peace of the world ultimately depends. 

This old piece of furniture has therefore 
lost its significance, but I hope, nevertheless, 



that, here In this magnificent library, it may 
still serve as a barrier, keeping out all the parti- 
san and false literature, historical and otherwise, 
which, by disseminating prejudiced and inaccu- 
rate information, both in this country and in 
my own, has done so much, through misinfor- 
mation of the inquiring mind, to keep alive old 
prejudices and resentments. 

I have the pleasure. Your Honor, of re- 
questing your acceptance of this ancient railing, 
as a token of the kindly and cordial feeling 
entertained by the City of Boston in England 
for the City of Boston in New England, and 
emblematic of the feeling of love and esteem 
which exists between the two nations. 



ADDRESS OF MAYOR PETERS. 

The other day we read that an apple tree 
in Danvers, planted by Governor Endicott more 
than two hundred and fifty years ago, was still 
blooming, a symbol, perhaps, of the vigor of 
the Puritan spirit, the best of which, in spite of 
many changes, is still alive in New England. 

But here is a memento older and more 

significant than the apple tree in Danvers 

one that speaks to us, not of the comparatively 
well-to-do setders of Charlestown, Dorchester 
and Trimountain, but of the lowlier and gender 
Pilgrims of Plymouth. They, too, it seems, 
had their contact with old Boston, which was 
an early centre of the Puritan or Separatist 
movement. In 1607, according to Bradford, 
"a large company of them purposed to get pas- 
sage at Boston in Lincolnshire and for that end 
had hired a ship wholly to themselves," intend- 
ing to sail for Holland. But the master of the 



vessel betrayed them. They were put in open 
boats, robbed of their belongings, and taken 
back to town, where the greater number were 
sent to their homes in the nearby villages. 
Seven of the principal men, including Elder 
Brewster, were bound over to the assizes. 

Today, by the thoughtful act of the Mayor 
of Boston, England, we are permitted to have 
in our possession a material relic (one might 
almost say an inanimate witness), of this in- 
cident in the story of these simple and pious 
families. This is the railing of the dock in the 
Guildhall at Boston. Elder Brewster himself 
may have rested his hands upon it and listened 
to the charge preferred against him. He and 
his companions were certainly confined m the 
building. 

Such mementoes quicken the imagination. 
They take history out of the books and make 
it a living thing before our eyes. Every person 
who sees this railing, whether adult or child, 
will be able to picture for himself better the 
wanderings of the litde band whose adventures 
form one of the most inspiring pages in history. 
We can see them m their northern villages, most 



of them, as Bradford says, "used to a plain country 
life and the innocent trade of husbandry." In 
the beginning of King James's reign we find 
them "hunted and persecuted on every side so 
as their former afflictions were but a flea-biting 
in comparison to those which now came upon 
them." It was then that they took their great 
resolution "to go into the Low Countries, where 
they heard was freedom of religion for all men." 

Their first attempt, the one made at Bos- 
ton, failed. A second was partly successful. 
Assembled on a lonely common between Hull 
and Grimsby, most of the men were taken to 
sea; but the women and children, who had been 
separated from them, were captured and only 
permitted to join them later. Few of them 
ever saw England again. The next dozen years 
of their history belong to Holland; the rest to 
Plymouth and America. 

It is not for me to draw from this heroic 
narrative the lessons of fortitude and patience 
that it teaches; but I may assure you of my 
satisfaction that a place of honor will be kept 
in the Public Library for this precious memorial. 
Standing here it will serve as a link between the 



old days and the new, mutely teaching the great 
virtue of reverence to our children. It will 
furnish a fresh bond of attachment between our- 
selves and the people of Boston in Lincoln- 
shire. As Mayor of the younger city bearing 
that honored name, I send back sympathetic 
greetings and warm appreciation to our kindred 
across the ocean who have been inspired to this 
act of gracious courtesy. 



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DEDICATION OF THE PILGRIM RAILING. MAY 29. 1919. 

FRONT ROW: ALFRED J, 0G5T0N ACTING BRITISH CONSUL HON ANDREW J PETFRS, MAYOR OF BOSTON 

BACK ROW: WILLIAM F KENNEY. PRESIDENT. WITH REV ARTHUR T CONNOLLY AND REV ALEXANDER 

MANN OF THE BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES: CHARLES F D BELDEN, LIBRARIAN. 



GOVERNOR BRADFORD'S LETTER 
TO GOVERNOR WINTHROP. 

The original manuscript of this letter, in 
the handwriting of Governor William Bradford, 
and also signed by Myles Standish, Thomas 
Prence, later Governor of the Plymouth Colony, 
Doctor Samuel Fuller, and John Alden, is in 
the Chamberlain Collection in this Library. The 
letter was addressed "To our worshipful good 
friends, Mr. Winthrop, Governor of the Massa- 
chusetts, and the rest of the Council there," as 
stated on the last page of the manuscript which 
contains four pages, the second and third being 
blank. It relates to the establishment of a 
good understanding in regard to the coming 
and going between the two colonies of inden- 
tured servants and "sojourners." 

This letter is now reproduced from the origi- 
nal, although not for the first time, in connec- 



tion with the setting up of the rail given by the 
city of Boston, England. The fact that Thomas 
Prence married Patience, daughter of Elder 
William Brewster, one of the Puritans held in 
custody in the Old Court-house in 1607, where 
the rail then was, adds to the interest of this 
manuscript on the present occasion. 

Transcription of the Letter. 

Gentlemen, and 
Worthyly be- 
loued freinds. 

We haue now at length returned an Answer to your 
letter dated the .26. of July (The reason we haue 
so longe deffered the same, is because we haue had 
no courte till the last month being Januarie) The 
sume wherof is this, that we are willing to cures- 
sponde with you in this, or any other neborly 
course, so fare as may no way be prejudicall to any, 
or swarue from the rules of equitie. how fare m'' 
Winslow expreste that agreement you intimate we 
know not (seeing he is absente) but our meaning, 
& former practiss, was & hath been, only of shuch 
as come to dwell, & inhabite, whether as seruants, 
or free men; and not of soujournours w'^'^ come but 
for a seasone, with a purpose to returne. yet if 
any abuse should grow hereby, we shall agree to 
any good order for the preuenting or redressing of 

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the same; prouided the way be left open for pore 
men to releve ther wants, And for mutuall help to 
both plantations. We haue therfore giuen warn- 
ing in open courte to all our people; not to receiue 
any as seruants, or other dwellers with them, but 
to aquainte us first therwith that we may inquire 
of their certificates or dismisions, but we have sett 
no penealtie upon it as yett, because we hope ther 
shall be noe need if ther be we have libertie to pun- 
ish shuch things at our discretions; if that will 
not serue; when we vnderstand what penealtie you 
apointe in the case, we shall doe the like, or that 
which shall be equivelente vnto it. As for the in- 
stances you give; we find that John Philips when 
he came was sick & if he had not been by some 
receiued to house he had been in danger to have 
perished, he aledged he was sent by his maister 
to seeke a seruise; yet as a servente he was not 
entertained by any; till his maister came and sould 
his time, (not to him that gave him house roome) 
but to him that would giue most, so he had no 
cause to complaine. for John Pickworth he came 
but as a soujournour to worke for a few weeks, in 
wch time he goote a wife, & so is longe since re- 
turned duble, & hath no cause to complaine, excepte 
he hath goot a bad wife. Richard Church came 
likewise ass a soujounour to worke for the present; 
though he is still hear residente longer than he pur- 
possed; And what he will doe, neither, we nor I 
thinke him selfe knows, but if he resolue here to 
setle we shall require of him to procure a dismision; 



13 



but he did affirme to us at the first, that he was 

one of m'' webbs men, & freed to goe for England 

or whither he would the w*^^ we the rather beleued 

because he came to vs from the wessagasscusett 

upon the falling out with his parttner; for others 

intimated, we know none (thoug we have inquired) 

but they had a dismission either to come hither, or 

goe for England. Now ther are diuerce goone 

from hence, to dwell and inhabite with you, as 

Clement Briggs. John Hill, John Eedy, daniell 

ray, &c . the which if either you, or they desire thir 

dismissions; we shall be redy to giue them; hope- 

ing you will doe the like in the like cases, though 

we have heard something otherwise. Thus with 

our prayers to the Lord for your prosperity, as 

our owne, and our liarty salvtations vnto you all 

we rest 

your assured louing freinds 

Plim: feb. 6. Samuel William Bradford Goue 

1631 . ffuller Myles Standish 

John Alden Tho: Prence: 



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